For the “Professional Decisions” the families perceived that the professional was entirely responsible for the choice. This type of ownership was most frequently expressed when describing decisions …show more content…
For every action there is a preceding decision to act, and families reported a series of actions taken. Families followed recommendations from professionals involved in the EHDI system, such as following up on a referral or learning signing language. They gathered and critically analyzed information in order to make choices for their children, and three of the families advocated for their child by “educating ourselves” or “appealing to the county”. All families reported changes in attitudes, “I had to build my self-confidence or self-esteem…” and worked to meet their child’s needs by taking actions that the families themselves identified as important. Three families described taking the initiative when professionals were not meeting their …show more content…
As a final synthesis of the data we searched for a core category “with the highest potential to link all the other categories together.” Such a core category should be a central idea, relating meaningfully and easily to all categories and accounting for variability (Corbin & Strauss, 2008, p.104). Empowered Families: Supporting Strengths Based Decision-making is the core category that resounds through each theme and concept of the data, and is reflected in some iteration through most coded comments across families. Our view of empowerment aligns with the description by Rappaport (1981) and echoed by Dunst, Trivette and Deal (1988, p. 4). This perspective of empowerment assumes that (a) Families are already competent or have the capacity to become competent; (b) Failure to display competence is not a failure of the parent, but of failure of the social systems to provide enabling opportunities for competence to be displayed; (c) Capacities and competencies are best strengthened through experiences in which families are